Tuesday 20 September 2011

Spice Mi-720 Tablet Review


Mi-720 is an amazing Android tablet from Spice. At a price of Rs. 12000, the seven inch tablet has exceeded the expectation as a gaming device and a social networking gadget. 



Aesthetics
Mi-720 comes with a 7 inch capacitive touchscreen, with a fantastic resolution of 800x480. Swiping left or right helps you to move through various screens and access apps of your choice effortlessly. The pouch, which comes in the package, helps carry the device comfortably and protects it very well.  It has a microSD card slot, SIM card slot, microUSB port, 3.5 mm audio jack, volume control keys, screen on key, mic and built-in speaker on its sides. 

For Gaming
The 800 MHz Snapdragon S1 processor and Adreno 200 GPU provide a very dynamic gaming experience to users.  Lot many interesting games- including some 3D games- are available on Android Market to download and try. Watch the video below of the game “Angry Birds”, which I played on Mi-720.


For Pictures
The 2 megapixel camera clicks excellent pictures outdoor. But those clicked indoor are not really impressive, the reason being not having a flash to light up the object. You can take advantage of features such as digital zoom, brightness level adjustment, and night mode to get better pictures. The resolution is good enough to upload to social networking sites; but not adequate for taking very large printouts.  The device supports image formats such as JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG. You can click self portraits using the VGA secondary camera. Also you can enjoy smooth slide show of still images in the image gallery.



For Music
The device gives ultimate music output though speaker and earphone. The volume control keys are given on the top (when held vertically). The device supports multiple audio formats including MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, and AMR. Its 3.5mm audio jack lets you enjoy music on your favorite earphone. Check out the following video to experience the audio performance.



For Video
Mi-720 supports MP4, 3GP, and WMV formats. You can record 24fps videos, while it supports 30fps video playback. It enables you to seamlessly stream videos from sources like YouTube.






For Applications
The Android Froyo device gives access to the massive collection of application on Android Market, virtually serving most of your purposes in daily life. Selecting, downloading, and installing an apps take a minute or two. The apps range from highly entertaining games to highly useful widgets and software.




Available for Rs 11990 @ www.saholic.com

Tuesday 13 September 2011

An optimistic approach by mobile OEMs to save earth!

With an ever-increasing demand for new electronic gadgets, the electronic dump rate has been increasing to a very dangerous level. Some of the mobile OEMs have responded optimistically towards the social responsibility of resource conservation throughout handset lifecycle. Al though brands are aggressively investing in increasing production and sales of handsets, they have come up with various “green initiatives” to reduce resource usage and lower wastage, with an intention to making our Earth a better place to live.



Mobile manufacturers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson are launching eco-friendly range of mobile products to reduce the overall environmental impact of the product, without compromising the style and functionality of the device. The primary objectives of such initiatives have been:-

·         Reduction in carbon emissions
·         Reduction in plastic wastes
·         Reduction in paper usage
·         Reduction in energy consumption
·         Awareness creation

Eco-friendly manufacturing process
Green initiatives are pushing manufacturing process away from the use of lead and other hazardous substances such as bromine, chlorine and antimony trioxide. Manufacturers are using raw materials that are in compliant with Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. Use of RoHS compliant materials reduces the risk to health and the environment.
To reduce carbon emissions, manufacturers are shifting from use of synthetic paint to bio-paint or waterborne paint. Bio-paint or waterborne paint also lowers exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). 
Manufacturers are taking initiatives to reduce the use of paper during packaging of products. They are providing in-phone manual in place of paper manual in the package. They are using small eco –friendly packages for products and reducing package size so that transport related carbon emission is lowered.

Recycling: A way to help the environment
Recycling is the very first step for environment protection. People keep on changing handset for style or for need. A considerable number of handsets are being dumped on a daily basis. Lots of materials in such electronic wastes can be re-used for same or different purposes. Therefore, manufacturers are giving consumer safe channel to dispose off the old, non-working handsets and accessories rather than just dumping them away. They use the materials of non-working handsets for the production of new handsets, thereby reducing the threat to the environment. Samsung and Nokia are actively working for recycling discarded handsets.

Improving energy efficiency
Manufacturing energy efficient products is another focus on mobile OEMS. Nokia is providing energy rating system for mobile chargers. The star system lets the users know power consumed by the mobile phone charger. Higher the rating, lesser is the energy consumption and vice versa. A Nokia charger with 5 star rating consumes less than 0.03W and a Nokia charger with no star consumes more than 0.5W.



Usually, people forget to disconnect the charger after the device is charged, which leads to wastage of energy. Handsets of brands such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG came up with reminders to unplug the charger, when the device is fully charged. Over the last decade, Nokia has reduced the amount of energy its chargers use in no-load mode by 90%.
Manufacturers have created energy efficient display. Incorporation of ambient light detectors has reduced the display energy consumption to great extent. The latest OLED based displays such as OLED, AMOLED, Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus displays are much energy efficient as compared to conventional TFT LCD displays.

Increasing awareness to save environment
Manufacturers are trying to make environment clean not only by shifting to eco– friendly manufacturing process and saving energy but also through creating awareness in the consumers. Many apps are incorporated in handsets through which user can gain knowledge about the environment organization, communities, applications, and movements. Mobile phones are coming with CO2 emission calculator to use in daily life. Handsets capable of video calls and conferencing help avoid business travels, which indirectly helps in eliminating CO2 emission.

Multi-SIM phones when you need more than one SIM
Carrying two single SIM phones to serve both business and personal purpose call for more resource requirement. Now, people can use single multi-SIM phone to get connected to different numbers.

Let’s support any new initiative by mobile manufacturers to make the Earth a better place to live. Let’s help promote any new technology developed to save energy, reduce wastage or lessen the environmental impact!